This invention relates to a high power beam dump for absorbing the power of a high power laser beam while the laser beam is shuttered off from contact with a workpiece.
This invention relates particularly to a high power beam dump which is positioned directly in the path and coaxially with the laser beam and which is constructed to absorb essentially all of the power of the laser beam.
High power lasers, such as, for example, carbon dioxide lasers, are used for cutting and performing other operations on workpieces. The high power laser and workpiece must be carefully aligned to obtain the desired accuracy of the operation to be performed on the workpiece. During the time that the workpiece and laser are being aligned, the high power laser beam must be shuttered off from contact with the workpiece.
The power of the laser beam must therefore be absorbed without damaging the shuttering-off apparatus.
Typically, in previous laser shuttering techniques, a mirror has been placed in front of the beam to deflect the beam into an area away from the workpiece and outside of the beam path of the laser during realignment.